CHALLENGES WITH MEDICATION TREATMENT
ANTIDEPRESSANTS-ANTIPSYCHOTICS
Drugs used in psychiatric treatment can be roughly divided into antidepressants (drugs that cure depression), antipsychotics (drugs that soothe psychotic disorders and their symptoms), anxiolytics (drugs that soothe psychotic disorders and their symptoms). anti-anxiety drugs) and mood stabilizers (preventive-protective drugs in mood disorders).
With antidepressant drugs, problems are encountered regarding the effectiveness of the drug itself and the duration of recovery. The effectiveness rate of these drugs varies between 60-70%. This means that for every 100 people you give a drug to, 60 or 70 benefit from it, and for the remaining 30-40 people, you have to recommend another drug. When choosing an antidepressant drug, physicians consider age, gender, whether the person has another physical or psychiatric disease, whether or not they use different medications for other reasons, the severity and type of depression, whether the same drug has been used before and whether it was beneficial, whether family members with blood relatives have used the drug before. They take into consideration many factors, such as whether it works. However, as in other areas of medicine, there is no test or analysis that will facilitate drug selection.
A second difficulty is related to the onset time of the effect. Antidepressant effectiveness usually begins in the 3rd week at the earliest. Moreover, this does not mean that our patient will feel very well after 3 weeks. The event is just starting. If the drug is effective, it will take more weeks for our patient to feel better.
The danger here is that the patient, who is used to getting quick results from a painkiller or antibiotic and recovering in 1 week and 10 days, may find that the antidepressant drug does not have an effect or its effect is late and slow. The reason for this is that he abandons the treatment and becomes completely hopeless. For this reason, after reaching the correct diagnosis, the physician should mention these problems to the patient while arranging the treatment. The patient who is only given a prescription and sent away will have questions about the start time of the treatment and its effects, when he will start to recover, and his confidence and continuation of the treatment will be negatively affected, and as a result, he will not be able to recover.
There is no reason to stop another drug-related treatment. are the effects. antidepressant drugs They are drugs that are mostly safe and do not have life-threatening negative side effects at recommended doses. However, in the first weeks of treatment, side effects such as drowsiness, yawning, dry mouth, nausea, headache, constipation, menstrual irregularity, and decreased sexual desire may occur. Most of these resolve spontaneously within the first 2 weeks without the need for any additional intervention. If the patient, who is already distressed, is not warned about these side effects that may disappear in a short time, he may abandon the medication without the doctor's knowledge. If the patient is informed in advance and can easily reach his physician to consult about side effects, the problem will be largely eliminated. Side effects may not decrease over time and continue to be bothersome. In this case, the physician will change the medication that negatively affects the patient's daily life, even if it is beneficial.
One of the most complained about antidepressant side effects is weight gain. The belief that all antidepressants cause weight gain is not true. There are also antidepressants that do not cause weight gain. This problem can be easily overcome when the selection is made by taking into account whether the patient has a body that is prone to gaining weight, his age, and whether he has internal diseases such as diabetes or hypertension.
In severe mental illnesses where the ability to evaluate reality is impaired ( Problems may arise with the drugs used in psychosis, just like antidepressants, such as whether the appropriate drug has been selected for the patient's condition, the drug not working even though the correct drug has been selected, the need to recommend a new drug, delays in the onset of the drug's effect, and side effects. The important thing is to continue cooperation to overcome these problems without interrupting contact with the physician. Due to the deterioration in the patient's ability to evaluate reality, the family has more work to do.
Let's not be afraid of antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs used appropriately and correctly. Happy days…
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